


One, Two, Three

by Desdimonda



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cole helps, Gen, Lavellan and Cole friendship, Post Solas break up, Post game angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-01-23
Packaged: 2018-03-08 18:30:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3219077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Desdimonda/pseuds/Desdimonda
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cole comes to Lavellan, to see how she is coping after Solas leaves.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One, Two, Three

'You miss him.'

The goblet Saga was holding clattered on the stone floor, the wine pooling to a thick, red stain. She swore, glanced to her left and saw Cole perched on her desk, with a sad little smile. She shifted her languid pose, pulling around her legs that were draped lazily over the edge of her chair. 

'Cole, just - please - knock first?' she said, picking up the silver goblet, setting it back on her desk. 

'I have. You don't answer. You don't talk. _Silence. It bites. It tears. She knows what she should do. But she doesn’t. The pain weighs like lead. Bitter. Biting. There is nothing she wants, but him._ ’

Saga heaved a long, weary breath and ran her hands through her loose, unkempt hair. ‘Do you maybe think there’s a reason I do not answer?’

'You haven't braided your hair since he left,' said Cole, gently pulling her hands from her head, smiling beneath the shadow cast by his hate. 'Let me help.'

'Help with what?' she asked. The smile never left his face.

'Your hair.'

Before Saga could protest, Cole was standing next to her, a clump of hair in his hands. Gently, he ran fingers through the white locks, teasing out the knots she had ignored for days. She sat up straight, staring at the desk, cluttered, scattered with unread letters and demands for her time. Rubbing her eyes, she winced as he caught a rough knot.

'Do you have a thing with teeth?' he asked, opening the drawers of her desk, scouring through the contents.

'A thing with…. oh. You mean a comb?'

'It goes through your hair, a comb?'

Saga smiled, tipping his hat a little. ‘Yes. It’s by my bed-‘ 

Cole left before she finished he words and picked up the small ivory comb. He returned a moment later and resumed brushing her hair with slow, languid motions.

'You don't have to do this, Cole,' said Saga, fiddling with her fingers, tugging at a loose thread of her scarf.

'It makes you happy. I do. _Memories. Good. Bad. It doesn't matter.They are memories. A time gone, a time lost. Love. It was love. So long alone. Foolish. Selfish. No. Love. It was love.’_

The thread frayed; she swore. Hands, unsteady, restless, touched her face, rubbing her weary eyes.

Cole pushed back the white hair from her face and took three clumps. Awkwardly, he began to twist them around one another, weaving, trying to bond them together. 

'Is this right? Why aren't they sticking together?' 

Saga laughed, glancing up at young Cole from her seat, watching him twist the sections of her white hair together. ‘You put the left one over the middle, then the right one over them both then….’ Saga paused, furrowing her brow as she stared at the braid. ‘I… Solas always used to do it for me.’

Cole paused. ‘ _One, two, three. In the morning, grazed by the sunlight. Warm. Weary. He takes your hair, one by one, two, three._ ’ 

Saga watched, curious, as his hands began to weave her hair, bit by bit, one, two, three. 

_Just like him._

'I'm helping,' said Cole with a smile.

_You are._

'Thank you, Cole,' said Saga, quietly, staring at the setting sun, painting the sky an orangey hue.

'It will get better,' he said, tying the end of her braid with a leather thong. He picked up the comb and began to brush her long white waves again. 'Until it does, I will help. You have done…so much for me. You believed in me, made me a better person.'

'You already were pretty great, Cole.'

'But now I'm better. Thank you.' He paused, set down the comb and awkwardly wrapped his arms around her from the side, cold, white fingers gripping her shoulder.

Saga wiped away a tear.


End file.
